July 10, 2007

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Illinois starting pitcher Scott Shaw and utility player Joe Bonadonna have been selected to the South and North Division All-Star teams, respectively, for Wednesday's Northwoods League All-Star game to be played in Mankato, Minn. Shaw headed into the All-Star break 3-2 with a 3.46 ERA, while Bonadonna swiped a team-record 31 bases in the season's first 38 games.

Bonadonna led his Duluth Huskies to a 20-14 first-half record, finishing just one game out of the NWL North Division first-half title, while Shaw's Waterloo Bucks struggled to a 15-19 finish, 8 ½ games behind the South Division first-half champion Green Bay Bullfrogs. Four games into the second half of the season, Duluth leads the North Division at 4-0, while Waterloo is tied for fifth in the South Division at 1-3.

Shaw is 3-2 with a 3.46 ERA in 39 innings, allowing 31 hits, 18 runs, 15 earned runs and just 10 walks while striking out 40 and accumulating an opponent batting average of .226. Bonadonna is second on the Huskies with a .292 average and leads Duluth in at bats (137), runs (23), hits (40), RBI (14), walks (25), stolen bases (31-for-36) and on-base percentage (.402) among players with at least 60 at bats, while committing just three errors at second base. He currently stands as Duluth's single-season steals record-holder, smashing the old mark of 19, and has his sights set on former Illini Ryan Rogowski's NWL single-season mark of 44 steals set in 2005.

Shaw learned of his selection by a camera crew from ESPNU as they were filming the July 19 edition of "Northwoods Baseball Weekly." A clip of his reaction can be found here.